HIPAA and employee access to their own record

Another HIPAA Q & A from HcPro’s newsletter Briefings on HIPAA:

Q: Do HIPAA regulations forbid employees from accessing their own records? For example, could a hospital employee review the results of his or her recent laboratory test? 

A: The HIPAA privacy rule does not prohibit healthcare organization employees from accessing their own records. In fact, the privacy rule gives individuals the right to access their PHI. However, your organization’s policies may regulate this practice.

Many healthcare organizations have written policies that prohibit employees from using electronic health records (EHR) to access their own PHI. Instead, they require employees to request access to their PHI through the HIM department, just as they do all other patients.